African Wildlife and Environment Issue 68

ECO-HERO

ECO-HERO

years that followed additional farms were purchased, increasing the size of the park to the current 284 km 2 . But as important as these conservation efforts were, as important was the work that Dr Robinson did to improve the reserve’s infrastructure; in particular improving the accommodation for the staff and the building of a new rest camp. Significantly, since 1978, the capture and relocation of mountain zebra to new habitat have been part of the routine management of the park. In 2015 the park’s herd numbered over 700 animals, and an average of about 20 animals are relocated each year. Dr Robinson’s contributions to conservation management have all been based on sound ecological principles. Another landmark decision taken by him was at Addo, where he took the decision to remove some of the internal fences, thus allowing the elephants to roam freely and covering greater distances. This not only enlarged the size of the park, it also had an effect on the elephants’ reproduction cycles. By forcing the elephants to roam further for water and food, growth rates in the population slowed down. In 1985 Dr Robinson was made Director for Coastal parks and it was during this time that he worked with a teamof scientists to initiate the establishment of the West Coast National Park. The establishment of this 40 000 ha park was made possible through funding from philanthropist Anton Rupert’s Rembrandt Foundation and the Worldwide Fund for Nature. The Park has guaranteed conservation protection for the Langebaan Lagoon and its surrounding landscapes, and is of national and international interest for its varied terrestrial and marine life, as well as for being a site rich in fossils from the Holocene era - 100 000 years before the present. In 1990 Dr Robinson was promoted to CEO of SANParks, and under his leadership SANParks became a world leader in conservation. He established and expanded many of South Africa’s most important national parks, and changed the thinking behind them from insular to holistic. In particular, he initiated ways of working that involved opening discussions with communities living along park borders. Most important of all, he was the first local conservationist to understand, and incorporate into the guiding philosophy of our national parks, the interdependence of parks and adjacent communities. Apart from being a visionary leader Dr Robinson did not shy away from controversy or difficult decision-making- quite the contrary. One of the first actions he took was to tackle an issue in the Kruger National Park. Under the influence of the apartheid government a camp had been created for the sole use of senior officials of the South African Defense Force. Dr Robinson thought this was outrageous, and wasted no time informing the SADF that they could

no longer use the camp, saying that if they wanted to use it they would have to book like everyone else! Another much needed decision Dr Robinson made was the appointments of the first black senior management members. He understood the need for blackmanagement in the parks systemand in themid 1990s was directly responsible for the appointment of Dr Enos Mabuza, the (then) KaNgwane leader, as the Chairperson of the National Parks Board. Dr Robinson, always in tune with the changing political landscape made this appointment after consulting with Dr Nelson Mandela. Dr Mabuza, a political leader with a track record of sound environmental decision making, led the way for developments involving appointments of black participation in conservation. This was another contribution by Dr Robinson to the leveling of the conservation playing field. In the mid-1990s Dr Robinson, with support from Louis Pienaar the (then) Minister of Environmental Affairs, pioneered the establishment of the Richtersveld National Park, the first national park in theworld at the timewith a direct community share by the local Nama people in running it. Located in South Africa’s northern Namaqualand the Richtersveld National Park represents a harsh landscape, where water is a great scarcity and only the hardiest of life forms survive. Despite this, it is regarded as the only Arid Biodiversity Hotspot on Earth, with an astonishing variety of plant, bird and animal life (much of which is endemic). In 1995 Dr Robinson was recognised with two awards for his pioneering conservation work in the Richtersveld - the WWF International Award, as well as the Duke of Edinburgh Award, the latter considered by many to be the ‘Oscar of conservation’. These two prestigious honours were to be followed by another from theWildlife and Environment Society of South Africa, who bestowed on Dr Robinson their Gold Award in 2011, for his outstanding contribution to environmental conservation in South Africa. Changing gears In 1997 Dr Robinson resigned as CEOof SANParks after 32 years of service. But - typical of this hardworking, dedicated man - he continued working, pursuing conservation and humanitarian goals until the end. During his time with SANParks Dr Robinson, backed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and with funding from the Rupert Foundation, had led the establishment of the Table Mountain National Park. The fruits of this work were realised on 29 May 1998 when the park previously known as the as the Cape Peninsula National Park was renamed and proclaimed The park contains two well-known landmarks: Table Mountain, for which the park is named, and the Cape of Good Hope, themost southwestern extremity of Africa. Because of its unique floral kingdom, the

A visionary leader who made a difference when it mattered DR ROBBIE ROBINSON

Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader…. They set out to make a difference. It’s never about the role - always about the goal. Lisa Haisha: Whispers From the Children’s Hearts Foundation

Lynn Hurry

Tsitsikamma was to work with a few helpers to build a 70 metre suspension bridge across the Storms River mouth. Hanging seven metres above the water, it was the only bridge for more than 40 years. And while he was at Tsitsikamma he worked with Petrus Ngubu and Popo Scott to create the route which was to become the now world-famous Otter Trail. Working with these two, he walked ahead as the trailblazer, marking the trail with scraps of cloth. With his keen interest in coastal conservation, Robinson started the groundwork for fish population studies in the Tsitsikamma National Park and elsewhere. It was an ambitious programme involving a number of universities. Recognised as being light years ahead of his time by colleagues, he argued that creating a Marine Protected Area (MPA)- a coastal no take zone- would benefit not only local marine species but also the South African marine environment and fisheries generally, as excess numbers moved out of the MPA. Although it took time to bear fruit, Dr Robinson’s research programme eventually resulted in the establishment of the Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area in 2000 – the second of its kind in Africa and amongst the first of its kind in the world. In 1978 Dr Robinson was appointed Director of the National Parks in the Southern Region, where he invested time and energy in expanding and further developing national parks such as the Knysna, Wilderness, Bontebok, Mountain Zebra and the Addo Elephant National Park. When he took over as Director of Parks for the Southern Region, the Mountain Zebra National Park had only 25 zebra. In the same year the numbers were increased by an additional six animals donated by Paul Michau. To create optimum conditions for breeding success, Dr Robinson was influential in increasing the park’s size by a further 66 km², and through the

The start Robbie Robinson was born in Cape Town on 12 June 1939. He matriculated at Paul Roos Gymnasium and went to Stellenbosch University where he obtained a BSc degree, majoring in botany and zoology, before going on to an Honours degree in Zoology and then a master’s (which he achieved cum laude ). In his early working life he worked for the Department of Fisheries, where he developed an interest in anchovies. His research into anchovy population dynamics became the subject of his master’s degree. It was ground-breaking in more ways than one, since he was one of the first to use a computer for analyzing data. In later years he continued researching population dynamics, completing a PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle. These are some of the facts behind the man- the scientist, the conservationist and humanitarian - the man who made a difference when a difference mattered. The road ahead - national duties In 1966 Dr Robinson joined what was then the South African National Parks Board as a marine biologist and was appointed park warden of the newly proclaimed Tsitsikamma National Park. It was this posting that set him on his lifelong path of more than 50 years as a passionate advocate and defender of southern African ecological environments – both terrestrial and coastal/marine. Dr Robinson was always a ‘do-er’ rather than a ‘talker’ and one of the things that he did while at

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